spoilerThe man police say was behind a violent plot targeting a suburban worship center is young and looks even younger, and now he's behind bars.

Alexandros Paporakis is 19 and works as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant. According to police in his northwest suburban hometown of Palatine, Paporakis had plotted to carry out a "mass shooting of Indian people" at a Hindu temple in Aurora, where they say he drove last Sunday decked out for war.

Authorities say the 19-year-old was one malfunctioning rifle away from becoming a mass shooter.

His alleged target was the largest Hindu temple in southwest suburban Aurora. On Sunday the sprawling place of worship was filled with people and filled with joy-when police say a young man showed up "to kill a significant number of Indians," police say.

But fate had a different outcome in mind for Paporakis, according to a newly filed court record.

Investigators say he had a modified AR-style rifle and 300 rounds of ammo, enough to fill ten magazines for reloading, along with body armor, gasoline cans and an assortment of swastikas.

Paporakis, a Taco Bell employee, allegedly drove from his mother's home in Palatine to the Aurora temple. Authorities say he tried to open fire but the gun jammed, so he drove home. There he "searched internet trying to learn how to unjam his gun & called a colleague informing them of (his) intent to carry out a mass shooting."

Several sources familiar with the case say the co-worker then notified police of the plot, and Paporakis was arrested Sunday before he could return to the Hindu temple.

Investigators say they found a manifesto apparently written by the teenager-who called himself the "Aurora Shooter." The writings "expressed words of hate, violence, superior race and mass shooting of Indian people. His hatred was against Jewish people, African Americans, Indians, & "non-white" people."

They say he "expressed pleasure calling himself a sociopathic white supremacist Neo-Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day."

Paporakis is facing gun charges and stands accused of making a terrorist threat. A Cook County judge has now ordered him held without bond and has put a jailhouse healthcare order into place for the teenager, noting that he's being treated for ADHD, depression, anxiety, and receives hormone injections for gender transition.

His public defender tells NBC Chicago that statements from police and prosecutors are only allegations at this point and can change as the investigation continues.

The chairman of the Hindu temple in Aurora tells our team that thankfully they already have a robust security presence, and he's praising suburban police for foiling the threat against their place of worship.

all 47 comments

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[–] 8 points 1 hour ago

Racism against us is normalized so badly, it's hard for me not to get mad when they do shit like this to us

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  • [–] 7 points 1 hour ago

    Who's gonna moderate feddit now?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 hour ago

    Well, that settles it. By process of elimination, Hinduism is hereby declared the objectively correct religion with verifiable miracles.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago

    Behold the master race

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  • [–] 23 points 3 hours ago

    worship center

    Just say Hindu temple; just say that outright in the headline; I hate when the news does this

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  • [–] 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

    Crackers are evil savages.

    xi-plz

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  • [–] 21 points 5 hours ago* (2 children)

    Paporakis is facing gun charges and stands accused of making a terrorist threat. A Cook County judge has now ordered him held without bond and has put a jailhouse healthcare order into place for the teenager, noting that he's being treated for ADHD, depression, anxiety, and receives hormone injections for gender transition.

    Wait, what?

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  • [–] 48 points 6 hours ago

    19

    White

    "teenager"

    ...and of course some mental health shit in there, too! Wouldn't want people getting the idea fascism is the cause. Just our poor smol bean mass shooters who didn't know any better.

    In other news, a 12-year-old black man has been sentenced to life in prison for disobeying a police officer after being told to lay down with his hands and feet in the air.

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  • [–] 53 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

    Why not mention that it was a Hindu temple in the headline? Would that garner less sympathy?

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  • [–] 71 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (5 children)

    Authorities say he tried to open fire but the gun jammed, so he drove home. There he "searched internet trying to learn how to unjam his gun

    @Grok how do I cycle my gun

    Investigators say he had a modified AR-style rifle and 300 rounds of ammo, enough to fill ten magazines for reloading, along with body armor, gasoline cans and an assortment of swastikas.

    A) I would love to know what kind of modifications he made to a rifle he didn't even know how to unjam. Is it just the article being vague about a red dot sight or something, or did he buy and install an auto conversion trigger for a gun he didn't know how to use?

    B) This list is phrased in such a way where it sounds like the swastikas were part of his equipment, like he was gonna throw em like batarangs.

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  • [–] 25 points 6 hours ago

    I figure by "modified" they probably mean he put a sight on it, yeah.

    Just screwed it on by hand with no clue about tension judging by his competence in other firearms basics

    Also by "300 rounds of ammunition" do they mean he just had fucking boxes of ammo lying around that he'd have to sit down and load into his magazine? He didn't actually have 10 magazines?

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  • [–] 14 points 6 hours ago

    So I have to say it..... I thought he was going to be a Subway employee.

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  • [–] 26 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

    in his northwest suburban hometown of Palatine

    #FreePalatine

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  • [–] 41 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

    an assortment of swastikas

    Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

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  • [–] 28 points 8 hours ago (17 children)

    receives hormone injections for gender transition.

    Wtf? Why would a trans person associate with a set of beliefs that consider them less than human?

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  • [–] 52 points 8 hours ago

    Not that it is that uncommon trans people to hold white supremacist ideals, but wouldn't be surprised if the shooter was injecting T for looksmaxxing type shit and this was how the police and media tried to present it.

    The whole article is painting him with a wayyy more sympathetic light than they would anyone else who isn't white.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 hours ago (6 children)

    High probability of false flag imo

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  • [–] 14 points 8 hours ago (5 children)

    Which part is false? The hormones? The manifesto? The swastikas? The Greek name?

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  • [–] 19 points 7 hours ago* (2 children)

    The Greek name?

    Stavvy chuckles intensify.

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  • [–] 14 points 7 hours ago* (1 child)

    I was immediately reminded about a caller asking why all the Greek restaurants are racist.

    https://m.youtube.com/shorts/st98iExNU7I

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 8 hours ago

    Note: All the pronouns are from the article. I haven't seen the shooter's digital footprint or manifesto yet so I don't know how they identify. Is it better to edit them now or when the story develops further?

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  • [–] 33 points 9 hours ago (1 child)

    And like you still got Indian chuds who immigrate to the usa thinking they're on the team. Just because you're maga isn't gonna save you from some neo-nazi teenager with a gun.

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  • [–] 24 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

    I mean, nobody else is welcoming Indians to their team so really no point in focusing in on the vocal group of chuds within that community after an attempted massacre at their place of worship

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  • [–] 14 points 8 hours ago

    What's his X account?

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